Nvidia touts rapid GPU performance boost

Aharon Etengoff, 24th August 2009

San Francisco (CA) - Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has predicted that GPU computing will experience a rapid performance boost over the next six years. According to Huang, GPU compute is likely to increase its current capabilities by 570x, while 'pure' CPU performance will progress by a limited 3x.

Huang - who made his comments at the Hot Chips symposium in Stanford University - explained that such advances could enable the development of realtime universal language translation devices and advanced forms of augmented reality.

Huang also discussed a number of "real-world" GPU applications, including energy exploration, interactive ray tracing and CGI simulations.

In addition, Jen-Hsun fielded a number of questions at the end of the keynote speech, including a query submitted by Professor David Patterson of UC Berkley. Patterson asked if the CEO would still partition the CPU and GPU into separate chips if he had to "do it all over again."

Huang answered that there were three primary constituents: programmers, OEMs/ODMs and chip designers. He explained that each had various requirements which made it difficult to "bet on" the integration of new and very rapidly developing architectures into one device. As such, separating the functions actually allowed each to develop at its own pace, while providing the flexibility to address multiple market opportunities.